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@article{208842,
        author = {Dyuti Agarwal},
        title = {Investigating the Relationship Between Self-Esteem & Stress Among Secondary Level Students},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {4},
        pages = {3056-3062},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=208842},
        abstract = {Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which students are required to manage increasing academic demands while forming a stable sense of self. During this phase, psychological elements like perceived stress and self-worth have a big impact on students' academic experiences and general wellbeing. Using standardised psychometric tools, the current study looked at high school students' perceived stress and self-esteem levels. Participants filled out a self-report questionnaire that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to assess overall stress and self-esteem levels, examine item-level response patterns, and explore gender-based differences descriptively. 
According to the findings, participants reported a moderate level of perceived stress (M = 24.18), with items pertaining to feeling anxious and stressed showing the highest mean scores. An overall moderate level of self-esteem was indicated by the mean self-esteem score (M = 22.00), with responses typically indicating agreement with positive self-evaluations and disagreement with strongly negative self-evaluations. There were discernible variations in average stress and self-esteem scores between gender groups according to descriptive comparisons; however, no inferential statistical analyses were carried out to ascertain statistical significance. 
Overall, the results are consistent with previous research showing how common academic stress is in adolescence and how crucial self-esteem is to students' psychological well-being. By shedding light on patterns of perceived stress and self-esteem in a secondary school sample, this study adds to the expanding body of research on adolescent well-being and emphasises the need for more studies looking at coping mechanisms and interventions meant to support students' mental health and academic adjustment.},
        keywords = {adolescence, perceived stress, secondary school students, self-esteem.},
        month = {September},
        }